It's Not the Fall that Kills You
by LittleBritishPerson
Summary: After Connie and Grace fall to the bottom of the cliff. Two colleagues are there to help. Based on episode: Sticks and Stones
1. Chapter 1

**Hey all,**

 **Had some casualty inspiration from last night. This is based around Connie and Grace falling off the cliff (scary stuff! When Connie held Grace back into the seat and grabbed her hand, I had goosebumps. She did her best to protect her daughter) I'm going to bring a couple of my favourites to the rescue. You may know who they are. Enjoy : )**

 **(Title from Sherlock. Seemed relevant.)**

Grace opened her eyes. She was in the same position as she was when the car hurled off the cliff. She looked around, it was grey and dark as she was surrounded by trees as she sat in the smashed up car. She looked to her right and saw her mum, head facing her, unresponsive. Grace removed her seat belts as she shakes in fear and shock.

"Mum?" Grace called Connie but had no answer. She placed her hand on Connie's shoulder "Mum!" Grace raised her voice. She heard Connie mumble a sound but she was still unconscious. Grace's eyes watered a little. Grace then heard vibration and a little light down by Connie's feet. She reached over as she winced in pain and grabbed what was Connie's phone. She looked at the screen to reveal a missed call from Charlie. She immediately rang him back, hoping he would pick up still. Charlie looked at his phone once he heard it ring. He smiled as he answered it.

"Connie. Where are you? Everyone's thrown a surprise party. No doubt that you were in on this too." Charlie still smiled as he stood outside the pub.

"Charlie!" Grace cried. Charlie's smile left as he heard Grace's distressed voice.

"Grace? Where's your mum?" Charlie asked.

"We've had an accident." Grace quivered. Charlie continued to listen calmly. "Mum's not waking up. I tried shaking her, she moved a little but she's not now. There was this cliff and we...we" Grace couldn't continue as she starting to sob. Charlie got the picture, he listened to Grace as she sobbed. He had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Alright Grace. Listen to me. Do you where you are? What road you were on before...it happened?" Charlie asked. He had to know where they were.

"Gilston canyon. I think." Grace whimpered.

"Okay Grace listen to me, I may know a route that can get to you. I'm gonna bring a doctor and we are going to come check on you. Okay?" Charlie had to ease Grace's worries.

"Okay." Grace whimpered still.

"Okay, stay there and I will be with you soon. Keep trying to get your mum to come round but don't move her. Are you hurt anywhere?" Charlie asked. The fact that Grace was alive was an even bigger miracle. She was so little.

"My legs hurt." Grace answered.

"Okay. Just don't move." Charlie advised.

"I'm scared, Charlie." Grace spoke softly.

"I know, darling but just sit tight, I'm on my way." Charlie smiled as he hung up the phone. But that smile left when he finally realised what happened. He quickly walked back into the pub and turned the music, only to receive confused murmuring.

"Charlie, what's going on?" Robyn picked up on Charlie's scared expression.

"I'm sorry everyone. But there's been an accident involving Connie and Grace. I need a doctor to come with me till we can get an air ambulance and other services in.

"I'll go." Ethan volunteered. Charlie nodded then headed out the door. Ethan followed him only to get grabbed by the shoulder he turned around and saw Cal.

"Ethan. Be careful." Cal advised as he gave Ethan the car keys. Ethan gave a little nod and followed Charlie out the door.

Ethan and Charlie arrived near the scene. It was nearly dark so they had to find Connie and Grace quickly. Ethan parked at the side of the road. They got out the car. Ethan looked up at the canyon.

"Good gracious." Ethan spoke quietly. From what Charlie was explaining to him, he didn't imagine the fall to be that big. He grabbed his bag out the boot and headed into the forest where the mother and daughter are presumably placed.

"Grace." Charlie called as he held a torch. "Grace!" Charlie shouted as it echoed. Not so far away. Grace heard Charlie's voice.

"Charlie!" Grace screeched back. This made Connie jolt awake after hearing her daughter's high pitch scream. Grace looked down at Connie. "Mum!" Grace smiled greatly.

"Darling." Connie mumbled as she tried to clear her vision. "What...you okay?" She slurred her words a little. Grace nodded. "Good" Connie shut her eyes again. Grace began to panic until she saw torches in the background.

"Grace!" Charlie shouted again.

"Charlie. Over here!" Grace continued to shout. "Hold on, mum. Please." Grace cried as Charlie and Ethan ran to the car. Charlie ran round to Grace's side, hopping over branches and other types of nature. Ethan ran to Connie's door and used all his strength to pull the door open. After opening the door, it felt off its hinges. Ethan put his hands on Connie's face to stabilise her neck.

"Mrs Beauchamp. Can you hear me?" Ethan called Connie, she was unresponsive once more. Ethan grabbed a smaller torch and shined it in her eyes. "Pupils are quite responsive but we need to get her out of here now." Ethan tried to keep calm. He felt her pulse. "Pulse is quite slow as well." Ethan softly spoked as he looked at Charlie through the car. Charlie sighed as he hugged Grace for comfort. They heard a helicopter over their heads. Ethan looked up. Connie came round again and looked at Ethan.

"Ethan..." Connie whispered.

"Mrs Beauchamp." Ethan smiled as Connie moaned quietly.

"Grace." Connie still spoke quietly.

"You're both going to be fine. Just hang on." Ethan smiled still but Connie's world was leaving her again as blackness once again took her sight.

"Hang on." Was the last thing she heard.

 **So this is my theory. Originally it was Jacob that called Connie but I'm not keen on him as most of you know so Charlie was my next choice.**

 **This will most likely not happen. It didn't even look like there was a road at the bottom of the canyon but I wanted to be creative.**

 **Hoping to release the second chapter tomorrow but will see. See you soon : )**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey all,**

 **Thank you all for your lovely reviews. A guest mentioned that Connie possibly had her fall broken by a load of trees in order to survive and my mum thinks that they will end up on the edge of a lower cliff and it's a race against time to save them before the car topples over. Who knows, both really good suggestions.**

After Connie blacked out, Ethan looked up at the small falling stones coming off the cliff. He began to think. Services might not get to them in time and they had a load of heavy rocks that could fall on them any second.

"Charlie. We need to go. Now!" Ethan instructed. Charlie looked confused, then heard the sound of a small rock that fell on the bonnet. He knew what Ethan meant now.

"Have you cleared Connie's neck and back?" Charlie asked.

"No, I can't tell from here but we need to move her and Grace." Ethan answered whilst he still had his hands on Connie's head.

"Okay." Charlie spoke then looked at a scared Grace. "Right Grace, you are going to come with me. Okay?" Grace looked at Charlie and relaxed, she knew she could trust him of course. She put her arms around Charlie's neck as Charlie got his hands under Grace's legs as he began to hoist her out the car.

"What about mum?" Grace asked. Charlie stopped and looked at Ethan who looked back at him.

"Don't worry. Ethan will look after her." Charlie smiled. Grace looked at Ethan.

"Of course I will." Ethan smiled at Grace. Grace then let Charlie pull her out the car and quickly walked away whilst Grace whimpered in pain from her legs.

"Alright, darling." Charlie soothed as he got Grace away from the car. Ethan turned his attention back to Connie.

"Alright, Mrs Beauchamp. Let's take this slow okay?" Ethan may of looked a bit weird talking to an unconscious person but he had to try and see if Connie could hear him. Ethan darted his head up when he heard a loud rumble of a big rock that could fall at any second, he had to get Connie out now.

Ethan stretched over and unclipped Connie's seatbelt. He got half her body out the car but Connie's foot was stuck in between two pedals that were crush together, trapping her right foot.

"Okay." Ethan huffed. He placed Connie back in the car seat and went to free her foot. He struggled for a bit as it was wedged in between the pedals. He pulled the gas pedal towards him as it snapped off.

Charlie stood in the distant as he held Grace, he watched as Ethan tried to get Connie out. He wanted to help but he couldn't as he had to keep Grace calm, as she whimpered and cried still.

"Sh Sh Sh. It's alright." Charlie soothed Grace as he placed her hand on the back of her head to comfort her. Grace looked up at the cliff with the rocks on. She still feared for her mum's life.

Ethan freed Connie's foot. He smiled in relief.

"Right, Mrs Beauchamp. Let's get you out of here." Ethan smiled still, then he heard Charlie.

"ETHAN!" Charlie shouted. Ethan looked at Charlie then looked up to see the boulder starting to fall off the edge.

Quickly, Ethan put Connie's right arm over his shoulders, he heard the boulder getting closer as he began to drag her out the car with her head leaning on him slightly. Once Connie's lower half was out the car. Ethan dragged her quickly before picking her up and running away whilst carrying her in bridal style.

He ran to Charlie and Grace and fell on his knees as the sound of the boulder, forcefully landed on the car scared him. Whilst Grace scream in fear and with the echo taking Ethan and Charlie's breath away.

Ethan placed Connie on the floor slowly then looked back at the smashed up car with the boulder resting on it.

Charlie looked on at the car then hugged Grace tighter as she cried still.

 **Sorry if this chapter was a bit daft with rocks falling on the car but I thought it would seem cool. Plus, I wanted some hero Ethan since I haven't done that in a while. Also sorry if some medical stuff is incorrect etc.**

 **See you in the next chapter : )**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey all,**

 **Another suggestion that came into mind: What if the car fell off the cliff and fell onto the pub? Probably a bit daft since the hospital isn't surrounded by trees. Who knows, somethings going to happen and I can't wait!**

Paramedics arrived to treat Connie and Grace. Ethan cleared Connie's neck and spine as they were in the ambulance. Grace was in the other ambulance with Charlie by her side.

They arrived at the hospital, where Ethan opened the ambulance doors. Cal was at the entrance, he looked at Ethan's normal state as he wheeled Connie in with Iain and another paramedic.

"This is Connie Beauchamp, 46 years old. Fell around 3000 foot, cleared her neck and spine at the scene. No other injuries found. Was in and out of consciousness at the scene and hasn't regained since, pulse bradycardia, BP: 90/60, GCS: 3. Let's get her to resus." Ethan instructed but was stopped by Cal as Connie was still wheeled to resus. Cal placed his hands on Ethan's shoulders.

"You okay?" Cal asked.

"Yes. I'm fine. I need to treat Mrs Beauchamp." Ethan took Cal's hands off him and walked to resus. Cal watched how his little brother wasn't shocked or lost adrenaline. He was proud of him. Cal turned around and saw Grace being wheeled in a wheelchair by Jez and Charlie still by her side.

"This is Grace Beauchamp, involved in the cliff fall. She is complaining of pains in the legs. Was K'Oed at the scene but claims her neck and spine is fine. Pulse a little tachycardic. BP 90/70, GCS: 14 and we have given her 10 grams of morphine for the pain." Jez handed over as Lily and Alicia were there too treat Grace. Even though everyone was off shift, in the pub. They volunteered to come back to the ED and help.

Charlie approached Cal as Grace was wheeled away.

"Charlie, what happened out there? How are you and Ethan not shook up?" Cal asked.

"Well, from what I saw. Ethan saved Connie's life. He pulled her out of the car before a giant rock fell on the car." Charlie explained. "Ethan was a little breathless before the paramedics got to us but you know him, professionalism just kicked in." Charlie explained further.

"But he's okay?" Cal asked.

"He's a hero, Cal." Charlie answered then walked to resus. Cal stood there, smiling a little then walked in the direction everyone else was.

About ten minutes later, Cal walked into Resus, where he saw Grace sitting by Connie's side. Connie was still unconscious. Cal saw Ethan standing in the middle of resus watching the mother and daughter. He walked up to him.

"How is she?" Cal asked. Ethan looked at him then looked towards Connie.

"She's stable but critical still. I'm keeping her on five minute obvs." Ethan answered.

"I'm proud of you, Ethan." Cal smiled.

"What for?" Ethan asked, still watching Connie.

"You saved a life. Not just normally as a doctor but an act of bravery." Cal explained.

"I did what anyone else would of done. I'm not a hero, Cal." Ethan spoke.

"You saved a vulnerable girl on top of a Ferris wheel and you pulled our boss away from becoming a pancake." Cal tried to upbeat Ethan's spirits a little.

"Cal. Will you stop it!" Ethan outburst. "This is serious!" Cal was taken back a little.

"I know. Look, Lily and Alicia are in here. Let's go get a coffee. Okay? Even though you look like you need something stronger." Cal smirked a little. Ethan let out a breath then nodded and he and Cal left resus.

A little while later, Ethan fell asleep in the staffroom, once the adrenaline left, he was exhausted. Cal sat at the table, watching his brother sleep peacefully on the couch. Cal couldn't get his head round. His little brother has done more heroic stuff than Cal has. He saw how Ethan was a lot more out of his shell now then back in 2014.

Cal snapped out of his thoughts as he saw Ethan wake up. Ethan sat up and rubbed the side of his face that he laid on.

"Evening, sleeping beauty." Cal smirked. As did Ethan. "Feel better?"

"Much, thank you." Ethan answered as he still sat on the sofa. He placed on his glasses shortly before he heard Lily quickly walked in in. Cal turned to face her.

"Ethan." Lily called urgently as she stood in the doorway. Ethan looked from Cal to Lily and frowned.

"Lily. What is it?" Ethan was worried

"It's Mrs Beauchamp. She's awake." Lily suddenly smiled then walked back to resus. Ethan sighed in relief, looked at Cal then made his way to resus.

 **I thought I would centre this chapter around the boys because you know how much I like writing about them. Two more chapters to go!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey all,**

 **Sorry I haven't updated in a few days. Just been off days. We all get them from time to time. Apologise in advance for any medical mistakes.**

As Ethan approached resus, he could hear shouting from within the room.

"I told you, we should of pulled over!" Grace scream at a very tired Connie.

"Grace." Connie whispered.

"No, you've always got to prove you're right somehow." Grace continued to shout as Ethan walked in to resus. "You could of killed us!" Grace finished her rant then stormed past Ethan and out of Resus.

"Grace." Connie sat up quickly but became breathless. Ethan looked at Connie's ECG and saw it speeding. Connie fell back into the bed, unconscious once more. Ethan, going into doctor mode and dashed by Connie's side and lowered her bed.

"She's tachycardic." Ethan stated to Charlie. "You're not going after a Grace?" Ethan quickly asked him.

"Let's let her calm down." Charlie answered. Ethan stared at Charlie then turned his attention back to Connie as he assessed her.

"I don't get it. What's wrong?" Ethan asked. His mind has gone blank. Then he remembered; He was taken back to that day. Back to when he had a pneumothorax

and it was Connie and Cal there saving him, now the roles had reversed. He felt Connie's chest: Blunt. He put on his stethoscope and placed it on the left side of her chest; Muffled heartbeat. Charlie read Ethan's lost face.

"Ethan? What is it?" Charlie asked.

"She has a tamponade." Ethan stated. Charlie knew what this meant.

"What do you need?" Charlie asked, getting ready.

"There's no time to go echo so we need to go blind. I need fifteen engage cannula on a twenty mill syringe." Ethan quickly spoke. Charlie nodded then went to get the equipment. He came back with it quickly and Ethan prepared to insert the syringe.

Ethan rested the syringe on the skin of Connie's chest then looked at her unconscious face. Is this what they had to do to him? For a split second, Ethan could see himself in Connie's position. Cal didn't go into details about the procedure done in him, he just gloated about how much he saved Ethan's life.

"Ethan?" Charlie called to Ethan, who was still thinking but stopped when he heard Charlie. "We need to do this now or we are going to lose her." Charlie stated. Ethan took in Charlie's words. Ethan inhaled a deep breath and inserted the syringe into Connie's skin as he drew the blood from the internal bleeding. Charlie looked up at the screen and smiled.

"SATS are stabilising." Charlie exhaled a breath. Ethan's muscles relaxed a little as he removed the syringe. Cal stood and watched the whole thing without Ethan realising. Charlie then looked at Cal then back at Ethan. "I'll go find Grace." Charlie told Ethan then left. Ethan then finally noticed Cal.

Ethan placed the syringe in a bowl before walking over to his brother.

"You okay?" Cal placed a hand on the shoulder of his tense brother. Ethan nodded before turning back to Connie as he removed his gloves. "You know, for a while there: I saw you laying on that trolley again. Ethan looked at Cal.

"Me too." Ethan sighed.

"Is she going to be okay?" Cal asked.

"She's no longer critical. She should make a full recovery. No head trauma or spinal injuries. Mrs Beauchamp and Grace were lucky." Ethan spoke. Cal smiled. His brother was an outstanding doctor.

"Why don't you go wash your face? I'll get Connie comfortable again. Maybe talk to someone about getting her moved to some place quiet?" Cal suggested. Ethan nodded in agreement then left resus. Cal walked over to Connie's bed where he bandaged her chest then raised the head of her bed a little and put a blanket over her.

A little while later, Ethan was still not back when he left resus the first time but Connie was moved to a quiet, private side room. Cal sat by Connie's side. She woke up once again. Cal looked at her.

"Hey you, finished giving us all a scare?" Cal asked. Connie chuckled quietly. "How you feeling?"

"Numb. Sore." Connie answered.

"Yeah, you had a pneumothorax." Cal stated. Connie took in Cal's words. "Ethan performed the procedure."

"Ethan?" Connie asked. Cal nodded. "Wow, tables turned." Connie smiled.

"He also pulled you from the car." Cal said.

"Yeah. Grace told me that." Connie sighed sadly. "She's so mad at me."

"She'll calm down eventually." Cal smiled. "I think Charlie's talking to her now."

At this point, Ethan heard that Connie was actually moved, he entered the room where he looked up and noticed Connie was awake.

"Mrs Beauchamp." Ethan smiled as he picked up a file. "You moved." Ethan chuckled.

"I managed to persuade the ward and floor manager." Cal smirked.

"Right." Ethan looked at Cal then back at Connie. "How you feeling?"

"Chest is sore." Connie coughed a little.

"Okay, I'll sort out some medication." Ethan smiled.

"I'll leave you to it. Now your real doctor is here." Cal smirked. "Get better soon." Cal said to Connie who smiled back at him. He walked past Ethan. "See you downstairs." Ethan nodded at Cal, who then left.

"Right, how bad is the pain? Scaled 1 to 10." Ethan asked.

"About seven." Connie answered. It felt weird that she was answering these questions, when it's usually her asking them.

"Okay. I'll start you off on a small dose of morphine and we will see where we go from there." Ethan smiled as he turned up a dial on the morphine and it made its way into Connie's arm. "There we go. I'll come check on you later." Ethan was about to leave the room but was stopped by Connie's voice.

"Ethan." Connie called him, quietly. Ethan turned around to face her. "Thank you." Ethan looked at her, confused. "Grace and Cal told me what you did. Thank you. I really owe you a lot." Connie spoke.

"I'm just doing my job." Ethan smiled.

"Performing the procedure was your job. Pulling me away from a giant rock was a whole new meaning. I will not forget this, Ethan. I mean it." Connie smiled at Ethan, who smiled back then shut the door after he left the room. He exhaled a large breathe, smiled then walked downstairs.

 **Bit of a weird chapter here so hope it wasn't boring. Thought I would flashback to the Born Lucky episode since I watched it yesterday and thought about using some bits in this from that.**

 **Also, I love how this was originally meant to be about Connie but it aimed towards Ethan and Cal (some of you may know that I'm like that.) Whoops. Anyway, see you all in the last chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey all,**

 **Been working on my book so sorry I haven't updated in a while. Figuring out the last chapter for this was a bit troubling so I just stopped the story temporarily so this chapter might just be normal and a bit boring.**

 **I've seen some trailers and it looks like my theory in this story, is no where near what I was thinking, which is a little sad. But one day, I do hope I can guess an actual episode hehe. Got to add Jacob in this because he is involved with Connie, not happy but got to do it.**

"Connie?"

Connie heard her name being call softly as she slept in her private room. She mumbled quietly in her sleep till she heard her name again.

"Connie?"

The name repeated. Connie opened her eyes slowly and saw Jacob sitting on her bed, holding her hand.

"Jacob." Connie whispered.

"How you feeling?" Jacob asked.

"Mmm." Connie mumbled. "Okay." She answered. "Grace?"

"She's with Charlie. She's fine." Jacob continued to speak quietly.

"She's so mad at me." Connie began to tear up.

"She's just in shock, Connie. You both went through a terrible ordeal." Jacob responded.

"I could of killed her, Jacob. I could of killed her." Connie sobbed as Jacob lightly hugged her because of her wounds. Connie continued to cry into Jacobs chest.

"It's okay. It's okay." Jacob whispered as he held her still.

Outside the ED, Grace hid round the department, on a bench. Upset, mainly with Connie but also today's events. Charlie walked over to her with his coat, in which he placed over Grace's shoulders. He sat next to her.

"You okay?" Charlie asked. Grace didn't answer. "Look, Grace you should be indoors. With your mum."

"I'm not going near her." Grace huffed.

"Your mum was as scared as you are." Charlie spoke.

"She almost killed us." Grace frowned.

"What happened out there, Grace?" Charlie asked, sadly.

"Carmel, my friend. Her mum was chasing us. I think she was trying to get us to pull over but Mum just kept speeding up. Carmel's mum overtook us and braked quickly in front of us. Our car bumped off hers and next thing, we were falling." Grace looked down. Charlie wrapped his arm round her shoulder and brought her into his body.

"It sounds like your mum was trying to get you away from her. Do you know why she didn't want to pull over?" Charlie asked.

"Carmel's mum had been making Carmel self harm. Mum reported her and she freaked when she saw Carmel with her dad. Steph chased us from there." Grace whimpered.

"Alright." Charlie consoled her. "Your mum needs you right now though. She could of lost you today and you almost lost her." Charlie pointed out. "She's your mum, no matter what but I guarantee you are safe now." Grace took in Charlie's words.

Back on the ward, Connie and Jacob spoke about the events that happened.

"She wanted revenge." Connie spoke about Steph to Jacob.

"She wouldn't of wanted to knock you guys off a cliff. Would she?" Jacob asked.

"She was mad. How she was chasing us. Anything could of been going through her mind." Connie spoke.

"Do you know where she is now?" Jacob asked.

"No. Has she called the ED?" Connie asked.

"I don't think so." Jacob shrugged.

"She's going to pay for this. She could of killed Grace. She could of killed my daughter." Connie gritted her teeth in anger. "I just hope she hasn't fled the country. I want her sent down." Connie spoke angrily.

"We know where she lives Connie, she won't go far." Jacob smiled a little. Suddenly there was a voice at the door.

"Mum?" Grace softly spoke as she stood in the doorway with Charlie. Connie turned her head to the door.

"Grace." Connie began to tear up again. Grace limped over to her.

"Are you okay?" Grace asked as she grabbed Connie's hand. Connie began to cry.

"Yes, yes I'm fine. Come here." Connie and Grace quickly hugged as Connie cried. She looked up at Charlie. "Thank you." She mouthed at him. Charlie smiled with a wink then left the room with Jacob following. The two men looked back and watched a mother hugging her child.

"Beautiful moment, isn't it?" Jacob asked Charlie.

"Indeed it is." Charlie smiled. He didn't care that his party and anniversary wasn't how he planned. Connie and Grace was safe and that was good enough for him.

 **And this is where I end another story, bit of a bad ending but it was honestly all I could think of hehe. Originally, Charlie and Graces talk should of been in Chapter 4 but I completely forgot about it till I retread the Chapter, whoopsie. I also only noticed that I've been writing fanfiction for over a year now. My, my that has gone quick.**

 **Anywho, might not add another story before the 30th anniversary so I hope you guys enjoy it! See you soon.**


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